Rattner to Rose: Cuomo's pursuit 'close to extortion' (updated)

Appearing on Monday night’s episode of Charlie Rose’s PBS talk show, financier Steve Rattner gave his lengthiest defense of his actions in the pension fund scandal, attacked his former partners at Quadrangle Group LLC, and said that while he’s willing to settle with New York offcials in the matter, he wouldn’t agree to what he said were excessive and borderline extortionate terms set by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

The hiring of Hank Morris and Rattner’s behavior in regard to the greenlighting of David Loglisci’s DVD project “Chooch” were, he said, completely legal and not part of an elaborate kickback scheme to secure a slice of the massive state pension fund.

Rattner said that his decision to take the Fifth almost six dozen times one of several interviews with Cuomo’s investigators made perfect sense in light of the AG’s threats of prosecution, and insisted that nothing in later material submitted by his lawyers to the AG “fundamentally” contradicted anything Rattner had said before.

“I have been subjected to every kind of threat of prosecution and punishment known to man, practically,” Rattner said, explaining his use of the Fifth.

He said that Cuomo’s team and the AG himself had made inappropriate threats and “suggestions of dire consequences if we don’t do X or Y” — the details of which could come out in future litigation.

The financier suggested that the deal offered by the AG’s office — $26 million in fines and recompense, and a lifetime ban from the securities industry — were “close to extortion.”

Rattner recalled how Cuomo attempted to cultivate him as a supporter back in his HUD days, and noted that his wife supported the AG. “I was frankly never president of his fan club, or even a charter member,” Rattner said.

He was emotional in describing Quadrangle’s decision to settle with Cuomo and the SEC for $12 million. “The way it looks is they threw me overboard and got nothing for it,” he said, noting that he’s suing his former partners just as the firm is winding down.

Ultimately, Rattner said “emotion and politics” were the reason’s behind Cuomo’s treatment of him.

The show began with a long preamble by Rose in which he noted that Rattner is both his friend and a supporter of his show — as is NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, another Rattner friend and business associate. This intro went on long enough to make you wonder if Rose ought to be conducting the interview. That concern might have been borne out by warm-bath questions such as, “If the Attorney General, Gov.-elect Cuomo says that you were not cooperative or that you stonewalled them, you would say what?”

Rose summed up the pension fund scandal thusly at the end of the exchange: “This is an interesting story. It is a story about politics; it’s a story about ambition; it’s a story about technology that exists today. It’s a story about money. It’s a story about people who have found themselves in — not just Steve — but also others who have found themselves in a place that they never imagined they might be. It is the drama of human life.”